Giving up Judgement for Lent by Lavera Wade

I grew up in the Methodist church and was not raised to practice abstinence as a part of the Lenten season.  After I was baptized in Community of Christ, I felt called to engage in a Lenten practice. 

Giving up chocolate did not speak me, so for that first year I gave up “the need to be right”.  As I told everyone. This is not forever, it is 6 weeks, with Sundays off.  It may not be perfect, but I will try.  It was an amazing experience, and when I tell the story I find many relate to my struggle with the need to be right.

It is many years later, and last year I chose to give up judgement.  This year I find I wish to complete more work on judgement.  It is not a topic you can explore in six weeks.  In fact, much of this last year has been learning about the topic.

Last year included a great deal of time and study that spoke of “it’s not all about me” and other studies such as white privilege and social justice.

I have not been spending a lot of time thinking about how judgmental I may be.  But how many of us can honestly say we are not, and where did the beliefs come from that result in judgmental attitudes.

I am reading and amazing book titled “Beguiled by Beauty, by Wendy Farley.”  The chapter on non judgement is what spoke to me about Lent this year.

In the book she speaks of being open to gentleness, patient with others who may be struggling and acting out.

Looking at the world with curiosity, as in” I wonder what that is all about.”  Rather than diving into prefabricated assumptions about what is happening around us.  Even if we are right, and others are wrong, contempt for others is damaging to the Spirit. 

And first and foremost, stop judging myself.

To quote Julian of Norwich (an ancient mystic) “Our Beloved Mother God does not condemn what she has made, and neither should we."

And so, a little abstinence during Lent, is an opportunity for introspection.  After all it is only six weeks with Sundays off, and does not have to completed perfectly, if one at least tries.

Or there is always chocolate.